Pulse
by Sleepy.Beyond.Reasoning
Summary: In the year 2051 Team Satomi readies themselves to gain their third title, but Velshtein is ready to give them a run for their money. Unexpected challenges arise as the newest team in the IG-1, Cygne Noir, appears. All three teams will soon find that the track isn't going to be their only problem. An accident in the beginning of the season changes everything in an instant.
1. Chapter 1

**Pairings: LizXTakashi, AmyXOC, HamgraXOC, CunninghamXOC**

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**~xXx~**

**Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.**  
**Ayrton Senna**_**  
**_

* * *

Takashi rubbed his eyes lazily, he hated going to the pre-season party, he was backstage waiting for his team to be introduced. It was the same as it had been for the past two years, Benjamin Bright introduces the teams, asks a few questions, and then the rookies are then thrown to the wolves. He was bored. Liz gave him a light punch in the shoulder.

"Having fun yet?" she asked playfully.

"Not really," he replied absently grabbing her hand in his. Liz turned away from him to hide her blush.

"Yeah, well we're on in a few minutes so get ready," Liz mumbled trying to keep calm though her heart was racing like it was a mech on the track.

"Hey you guys ready?" Satomi's voice announced the question happily. She had been getting plenty of sponsors lately. As she approached them she glanced around, looking for someone. "Where's Amy?"

Takashi gave a shrug, but Liz answered for the both of them. "She went to the bathroom earlier." Liz pointed past Satomi. "There she is."

Satomi looked over her shoulder and sure enough there was Amy. The now-sixteen year old was dressed in a slightly revealing light blue dress. She gave her team a smile as she walked towards them. Satomi made a note in her, the team was growing up…maybe it was time to invest in finding a fourth member. Andre certainly didn't have the energy to replace anyone again.

"Now introducing the returning champions, Team Satomi!" Benjamin Bright's voice rang out loudly.

Takashi was the first to begin to walk onto the stage from behind the curtain. As Liz tried to slip her hand from his he tightened his grip and gave her a smile over his shoulder. Amy followed behind the two a warm hearted smile on her face. A spotlight circled around them and Benjamin Bright approached them with a microphone in hand. After the basic introductions he began asking questions.

"How are you guys feeling about this season? Another win?"

Takashi answered for the team. "That's the plan, but we know it won't be easy. It never is."

Bright laughed. "Before I introduce the newest team in the IG-1, who do you think will be the biggest challenge for you this year?"

Takashi looked down the row of teams, White Snow, Velshtein, Edge Raid, and Sledge Mama. Each was dangerous in their own way and each was out to knock Team Satomi from number one spot. They were all destined to be a challenge. But as his eyes locked with Cunningham's for barely a second he knew his answer. "They'll all be a challenge, but Velshtein has always been one of our toughest opponents."

Bright laughed again and moved across the stage. He gave a big grin to the crowd. "Now introducing our newest team, the champions of the IG-2, Team Cygne Noir!" The lights flickered and circled dramatically finally landed directly on the stop to Bright's left. Team Satomi each eyed their respective completion.

Bright gestured to the tallest man in the group. "Defender, Manny O'Sullivan!"

Liz got a look at the defender, he was a tall guy with dark curly brown hair and pale skin with a few freckles on his cheeks. His muscle was noticeable through the suit he wore and his face was expressionless. He looked tough.

The next introduction was for the smaller boy, he looked about sixteen. "Midfielder, Dominic Matthews!"

Amy glanced over at him, only to find him staring intently back at her. He had emerald green eyes, tan skin, dark brown hair that was spiked everywhere like he didn't care when he woke-up. He gave her a grin that she returned with a shy smile. As she turned back to the stage she was happy to see no one from her team seemed to notice the exchange.

As the audience stopped their cheers, the final team member was introduced. "Forward, Kairi Moreau!"

Takashi eyed the girl curiously. She was thin and could've looked breakable if it wasn't for the layer of muscle that he could see on her arms. She had light brown hair that was put up. She didn't look like much, but as she caught him looking at her and a smile settled on her face Takashi could tell she was more than what meant the eye.

Bright's voice caused them to brake their stare. "Kairi, who's your team looking forward to racing against this year?"

She laughed lightly, "As a team I'd say we'd disagree on that."

"What do you mean?"

"Both my teammates are looking forward to the match against Team Satomi, but me…I can't wait for the race against Velshtein."

Bright gave her smile. "Good Luck to you."

She nodded and then the introductions ended, the party began. The music blasted from speakers and the platters of food circulated throughout the room. The teams broke off into the floor to mingle with sponsors, each other, and fans alike.

~xXx~

"Kairi, you seemed distracted," Manny mentioned as he took a swig from his cup. His accent was thick and heavy, all Irish. It was getting slightly slurred from his drinking (the party had been going on for a few hours now), but at least the drinking had loosened him up a bit. Without it Manny was cold, distant, and completely uncharming. And for the sake of sponsors they needed him to be charming.

"I'm fine," Kairi replied looking around the room. "Where's Dom?"

"I ain't his keeper," Manny slurred with a grin.

Kairi smiled and rolled her eyes. She placed her hand on the cup and gave it a gentle tug, pulling it from him. "I think you've had enough of that."

He nodded and the grin stayed on his face, he patted her head absently. "Okay, but don't drink any Kairi. You're still a kid." He looked around and found their manager. "I'm going to go talk to Mr. Bellamy." Kairi watched him leave to talk to the elderly man that ran their team. As Manny approached it was clear Mr. Bellamy wasn't surprised by his conduct and quickly he used Manny's sudden appearance to speak with a sponsor.

Kairi sighed and started to walk to the bathroom. She had never liked parties, they were loud and obnoxious or…at least the ones she had attended. As she went down the hall to the bathroom the city's light caught her eyes. She stopped and stared, through the light of the city the track was clearly visible.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned to see Alexander "Cunningham" Hume looking at her.

"Yeah," she answered softly.

He smiled at her. "It's good to see you again Kairi. It's been—

"About a year," she interjected coolly, she watched him cautiously.

"Yeah…" he muttered. "It's good to see you're finally on the track. I could never understand why you liked being coped up in a garage all the time."

"You wouldn't," she nearly snapped at him letting her angry flare a little. She averted her eyes from his, she was acting like a child. She needed to show him that she was different now and this wasn't a good way to start.

Cunningham only smiled though, his expression easy and calm. "Maybe you could show me why you love it sometime." Kairi shrugged a reply and he continued to speak. "How'd you get into it? The racing I mean…you never showed any interest in it before."

"I worked in a garage for a couple of IG-2 teams, but…it wasn't the same. Then one day Mr. Bellamy approached me with the offer. I said no at first, told him I was just a mechanic. After some insisting, I got a couple of practice runs on the track," she paused remembering the moment, lingering on it. "I understand why it's so important to you now." She gave him a smile.

For once the appearance on his face was empty. His blue eyes stared intently at her, it made Kairi want to take a huge step back then turn around and run as fast as she could. She settled for looking back out the window avoiding his gaze. "You look good Kairi."

"Is that all you have to say?" She said swallowing the lump that was in her throat. She felt heat rise to her face and she turned to look at him, but shut her eyes at the last minute. "You haven't tried to talk to me since then. You didn't call or…even try to see me. You acted like I never even existed, like you never even care." She took a deep breath, opened her eyes and gave him the coldest look she could muster. "So why say anything now?"

"Look it's more complicated than that," Cunningham began to say, but Kairi walked straight past him. Her heels clicking as she did, she needed to find Manny and Dom so she could leave.

~xXx~

Takashi smiled at Liz they danced together. Neither of them really danced, but for once in their lives they thought it'd be fun. Maybe it was because they were together. Not it was definitely because they were together. Everything was better when they were together.

Amy watched them dance sipping her water as she leaned against a wall. They looked so happy, she wondered if all couples felt that way at some point. "You sure stare a lot," a voice chirped. Amy turned her head to see the midfielder from Cygne Noir. He gave her an arrogant grin.

"I mean, I caught you staring at me earlier." Amy just gave him a smile and a shrug. He continued, "So…you want to dance?"

"You…want to dance with me?" she asked, slightly caught off guard.

"Well yeah, you're the prettiest girl here." He offered her his hand.

She tilted her head a little. "You just have all the lines don't you?"

"Are they working?" Dominic asked raising his eyebrows.

"Not really." She turned away and gave a small wave of her hand as if to say goodbye. She left the boy standing by the wall, the rejection looming in the air.

A hand slammed on Dominic's shoulder. He looked up to see Manny grinning at him. "Facing rejection is hard huh Dom."

"You are wasted as hell," Dominic muttered grinding his teeth as he watched that Amy girl begin a conversation with some green haired guy.

"Pretty much," Manny laughed.

"Are you guys ready to leave?" a female voice questioned in a quick, clear voice. Kairi approached them, looking slightly deflated. Manny slung an arm around her.

"Kairi, letsss dance!"

Kairi sighed and Dominic watched her plaster a smile on her face and carefully remove Manny's arm. "I'll take that as a yes for you Manny." She looked over at Dominic and raised an eyebrow. "Are you ready Dom?"

"Yeah," he replied starting off towards the door. "I hope you feel better Kairi."

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**A/N: I know only a few people check this side of the site, but I decided to try my luck at a story. I did my best edit, but if you happen to see any errors please let me know. If you're around please drop a line, I'd like to know how this thing looks so far.**


	2. Chapter 2

**_So_****here's chapter 2, just for fun. I hope it came out alright!**

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_His hand slide up her thigh digging his nails in and he pressed her against the wall of the garage. His lips pushed at hers with ferocity and the slide down her neck, a soft moan escaped her lips against her will and she felt him smile against her neck. Suddenly her eye caught the door and she felt her body freeze. She lifted her hands and gently shoved him away from her._

_ He backed off, but barely. His body was still pressed against hers and his blue eyes asked endless questions. "If someone sees us Alex…" She mumbled trying to keep her mind focused, she couldn't keep her eyes off his lips. _

_ "Don't worry, they won't. I locked the door when I came in," he explained calmly lifting his hand and tangling it in her hair. "I promise. Nothing bad will happen." She took his word for it and kissed him._

Kairi snapped her eyes open and glanced over at the clock. It was 7:00 am, she had woken up late by two hours, damn her head needed to get out of the gutter. With a sigh she got out of her bed and walked to her bathroom. Her apartment was relatively small, she liked it that way, after all she didn't need much to live on. Just a kitchen, a bathroom, a small living room, a bedroom, and a balcony was all she needed. The apartment itself was expensive though, it was located in the middle of the city after all. She switched on the shower when suddenly her phone rang.

Picking it up Dominic's voice filled her ear. "Kairi! When's the meeting today again?"

"10:45, don't be late," she replied shaking her head.

"Gotcha!" The phone line went dead and Kairi hung up her head rolling her eyes. Dom rarely had any care about meetings, but then again Mr. Bellamy had ordered them to be there at precisely 10:45 and the old man was rarely demanding about anything.

After her shower Kairi pulled on a pair of jean shorts and an old plaid shirt of some ex-boyfriend. She left the apartment grabbing her backpack and began her walk over to Cygne Noir's base of operations downtown.

**~xXx~**

Andrei was droning on again, or at least Takashi thought so. He had lost track of the meeting's purpose a while ago. SMACK! Liz's hand whacked the back of Takashi's head swiftly and easily.

"Why?" Takashi asked loudly rubbing his head.

Ms. Satomi took the opportunity to answer. "If you were listening Takashi you'd know we were racing Cygne Noir in the first round."

"The winners from the previous year always race the newcomers," he replied shrugging.

"And," Ms. Satomi emphasized in annoyance, "You would've heard Andrei's plan for the race."

"Go all out like always right?"

This time it was Liz who snapped, "No. He said we should take it easy, win, but take it easy."

"Why would we do that?"

Amy's voice suddenly chimed in, "Because, it's our first race. We're the champions, there are targets on our backs, we can't show everyone what we've got just yet." She gave him a smile as she stroked Luca's fur.

"Right…so what are we allowed to do?"

"Remembering racing Black Egg in that practice run during the off season?" Andrei asked, Takashi nodded. It had been an easy race, didn't require much quick thinking only instinct racing. "Race like that."

Ms. Satomi smiled, "Last year made us true champions, this year will make us legends." The group let out a couple of half-hearted cheers. "Now I've been thinking that we need a new bench for the team, so I did some recruiting…"

**~xXx~**

Dominic raced into the office building, damn he was late again. A few of the suits glanced at him as he ran but he ignored it jogging to the elevator. He pushed his way by a few people and jumped into the elevator. Quickly he smacked his fist against the underground button, the elevator emptied out of all the extra people after that, they didn't want to waste their time with that trip. The elevator sunk to the underground where the team's base was.

As soon as it opened Dominic bolted out and ran straight into Kairi. The two hit the ground hard and each stumbled up slowly then took off down the hall towards the training room. "Kairi how come you're late?" Dominic yelled over at her as she took off ahead of him.

"I got distracted working on the mechs, lost track of time!" she called back. Suddenly she took a huge step to the left and through a door, Dominic followed her. The room was small, a circular table, a white board, and a projector were all that it had in it. Both were heaving breaths as they took their seats. Mr. Bellamy eyed them with a slight annoyance and cleared his throat.

"Now that you two have finally arrived I'll be leaving, I have a stock meeting to attend."

Dominic made a face at him as he left then looked around the table. Manny was wearing a suit and seated across from him. Kairi looked less then put together, her hair was a mess and a long black mark of oil ran down her cheek. "So…where's Mona?" she asked trying to break the ice knowing that Manny was probably annoyed with their tardiness.

"Here," a voice broke in. A middle aged woman rolled in on a wheelchair, her black curls pinned to the side, glasses sitting on the edge of her nose. She placed a stack of papers on the table and turned to the white board. Silently she began to jot down some things.

The team stayed silent as their coach wrote and then suddenly a bumbling voice interrupted all train of thought. "I'm so sorry I'm late! I slept in and then traffic was a nightmare!" At the door stood a young man with dark hair shaved into a mohawk and multiple tattoos, he was heaving breaths like Kairi and Dominic before him.

"You aren't late Marco, we asked you each to be here thirty minutes early to assure your arrival time," Mona explained as she finished writing on the white board.

"Oh," he replied with grunt. Quickly he swung himself into the seat next to Manny.

"Now that everyone's arrived," Mona faced the front of the room and rested her hands on the desk. "Congratulations on making it to the big leagues, I hope you're all prepared for your first year of hell." When no replied she smiled and continued. "This year everyone's goal will be to make Cygne Noir look like we don't belong here, make us look like we're just lucky to be here. We will _not_ allow that happen. Marco, if you'd please…"

Marco's eyes widened, but then he quickly stood and took the front of the room. He cleared his throat nervously, "Uh right…so some changes I did on each of the mechs to give us a bit of an advantage. Manny, your mech's arms are now going to be lighter, it'll let you throw a few more punches. On the downside though the amount of hits those things can take will be lessened. Dom, we're working on something special for your mech…I want to leave it as a surprise. Kairi, since you seem to like all that jumping, flinging stuff we're readjusting your mech to be lighter and "springy-er"."

Kairi's face lit up in a smile. "We're racing Satomi first, right?"

Mona nodded and folded her hands. "Yes, we'll be watching a few videos of them today. I want you each to take notes on what you see here and focus on the key points of their strategy I've written on the board: Teamwork, Instinct, and Natural Ability. Please play the tape Manny."

Manny stood and clicked on the projector.

**~xXx~**

"We will win this year," Sir Hamga announced as he left the room.

Immediately each member of Velshtein relaxed themselves, sighing. The old mechanic laughed as he stood. "You three…he puts more pressure on you every year. Though I must agree, you need to win this year. Or maybe you'll get fourth and we'll drop another place this year."

Jan groaned, "Thanks for the encouragement Cyrille."

"Yeah gramps, you worry about the mechs we'll worry about winning," Dew chuckled in agreement.

"Right boys," he replied his voice dripped with sarcasm. "As much as I would enjoy watching the videos of last year's races with you and commenting on your arrogant mistakes I have to finish up work on the mechs today. Not coming into work tomorrow."

"Why's that?" Dew asked as he clicked on the TV.

"His granddaughter is racing tomorrow in her first showing in the IG1," Cunningham answered absently as he stared at the old footage.

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot about Kairi and you being related," Jan muttered as he watched the video of Amy dodging his barrage of attacks.

Cyrille laughed, "Yep, that foolish granddaughter of mine."

**~xXx~**

Cunningham sat in the stands at the track, Dew and Jan next to him with Sir Hamga above them and Cyrille next to him. The other teams were there too, scattered around the stands. Every single one of them knew the threat of teams moving up, they weren't taking chances this year. "I bet Satomi doesn't even go all out this race," Jan commented. "After all, we took a look at Cygne Noir's tape from last year, they aren't anything special." Cyrille hit him in the back of the head for that, but Cunningham was thinking the same thing.

The mechs lined up on the track and Bright's words flared in the air. The light turned green and they were off. All eyes hit the screens. Cygne Noir made no moves, expect once Kairi made a leap that sent her a back a few paces behind Takashi. Comments were being exchanged everywhere, then lap one ended and all hell broke loss. The moment they crossed the line Cygne Noir threw the first punch.

**~xXx~**

"Manny, I'm having a little trouble with Takashi here. Mind helping!" Kairi screamed into her radio as Takashi continually hit at her. The forward mech was never meant to take punches, it was made to race. A few more and she might overheat, their mechs weren't completely ready yet.

"Coming lass," Manny grunted as he managed to send Liz flying away for a second and made a break towards Takashi tackling him.

Kairi readjusted for a second and then Liz made a move. Kairi dodged then jumped throwing a kick down on Liz's mech, she heard a crack and quickly checked her stats. It wasn't her who cracked. Liz began to fade off as Satomi sent their skeleton on the field. Kairi glanced around the field. Everyone was fighting, but her. "Dom, Manny, you two good?"

"Yeah," Dominic mumbled as he sent a punch at Amy. "Go."

"I've got these two!" Manny screamed, "Take the advantage Kairi!"

She took off towards the finish line and jumped straight into speed mode. From her radio she heard Manny yell something. Then she felt Takashi one her tail, the screens in her mech told her it was true. She beamed forward, trying to block Takashi from passing her. Suddenly he slowed a little then jolted forward to barrel through her. Kairi jumped and flipped in the air then hooked her grapples into his armor.

"Kairi, you have to let go and get in front of him!" Mona ordered from the radio.

"I can't match his speeds, if I let go I don't have a chance," Kairi replied grunting. It was getting harder to hold on.

"Then slow him down," Manny's voice broke in the radio. "Liz is out and if you can get Dom ahead of Takashi we can give him an obstacle to react too."

"Got it!" Kairi hit the brakes, hard. Takashi began to slow down a little and suddenly Dom bolted ahead of them. Kairi ejected the grapples and using all her power drove forward. Takashi slide ahead of her and Amy was soon on her left. "Manny, where are you? My mech is beginning to overheat, I can't beat her."

"Dominic, drop the weight!" Mona yelled through the speakers. Dominic's mech reacted accordingly and suddenly it shed its armor which created a barrier on the track then beamed forward moving faster than ever before. Takashi dodged the armor effortlessly and Kairi followed after him. Manny and Amy had a less then easy time, one piece hit Amy head on and sent her flying back. Another slammed into Manny, but he managed to continue.

"I'm overheating!" Manny yelled.

Mona sighed, "Relax, Amy's out of the race. Slow down, it's up to you Dominic. Keep the lead and we win. Lose it and we tie." Dominic didn't reply.

Kairi watched as Takashi escaped from her view. How was his mech reaching that speed? She trailed behind unwilling to risk her mech any further. She caught sight of Dominic as he reached the finish line, they were almost there. Suddenly Takashi's mech flared and he went straight through Dominic, knocking him off balance. Dominic finished second followed by Kairi and Manny. They tied up with Satomi.

**~xXx~**

"You little prick, you lost the race for us!" Manny growled grabbing Dominic by the collar of his shirt.

"Hey, calm down Manny," Kairi said stepping in front of Dominic and pushing Manny gently away. He released the collar of the other boy's shirt and took a step back. Kairi remained between them feeling the tension between the two growing.

"It was the mechs that lost the race," Mona sighed as she rolled in. "We're technically behind everyone else. Marco get in here!"

Marco ran into the room, glasses on his face. "I know why we lost. Our mechs are out of date."

"You're stating the obvious," Kairi snapped. Dominic placed a hand on her shoulder as if to calm her down. "Sorry."

Marco stared at her wide eyed. "Uh right, so I checked some things and the mechs Satomi and everyone else has are new. A company just recently came out with them, we don't have the money in the budget for them which is why we didn't know about them."

Mona nodded, "We can't play disadvantaged like this again, no matter what modifications you can make on our own mechs they won't matter if we aren't going to same speed as them. We're lucky Satomi underestimated us, but we only have two weeks before our next match. We need those new mechs."

"I'll get on it right away," Marco nodded.

"I'll help," Kairi agreed. She didn't like other people to mess with her mech and if they were getting new ones she sure wasn't going to let Marco pick them out on his own. He didn't understand the effect work experience could have on a person, he'd only been work professionally for two years now. She'd been doing it since she was fourteen.

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**Drop a line, give some feedback, sorry about the choppiness. Happy Holidays!**


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